The patent literature includes many types of retractable landing gear arrangements for aircraft, as shown by the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 2,308,846, granted Jan. 19, 1943, to John W. White; U.S. Pat. No. 2,392,892, granted Jan. 15, 1946, to Edward G. Ward; U.S. Pat. No. 2,427,885, granted Sept. 23, 1947, to Clement J. Turansky and Joseph A. Grom; U.S. Pat. No. 2,432,4008, granted Dec. 9, 1947, to Edward F. Furton and Charles S. Glasgow; U.S. Pat. No. 2,437,135, granted Mar. 2, 1948, to Gordon R. Steinhoff and James W. Blair; U.S. Pat. No. 2,487,598, granted Nov. 8, 1949, to Raymond Saulnier; U.S. Pat. No. 2,630,990, granted Mar. 10, 1953, to Albert E. Kanode, Conrad H. Cooke and Frederick V. Lindquist; U.S. Pat. No. 2,811,326, granted Oct. 29, 1957, to William B. Westcott, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,859,006, granted Nov. 4, 1958, to Rene Lucien; U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,655, granted June 7, 1960, to Erwin H. Hartel; U.S. Pat. No. 2,967,033, granted Jan. 3, 1961, to Kenneth T. P. Langdon; U.S. Pat. No. 2,982,500, granted May 6, 1961, to Rene Lucien; U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,649, granted June 29, 1971, to Jacques Leclercq and Claude Victor; U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,400, granted Aug. 29, 1972, to John M. Fitzgerald and Varnell L. James; U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,468, granted Sept. 18, 1973, to Wilfred E. Boehringer and Donald C. Callas; U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,975, granted Oct. 21, 1980, to Francis Sealey; British Pat. No. 486,641, accepted June 3, 1938; French Pat. No. 1,640,976, Bulletin date of Oct. 4, 1968; German Patentschrift No. 733,061, Auscegeben date of Mar. 18, 1943; GermanAuslegeschrift No. 1,058,374, Auslegeschrift date of May 27, 1959; German Auslegeschrift No. 1,081,769, Auslegeschrift date of May 12, 1960; and Luxembourg Patent Document No. 215,809, registered July 15, 1941.
The above patents show ways of constructing an Oleo strut. They also show articulated landing gear struts and various types of folding drag brace trusses. These patents should be considered for the purpose of putting the present invention into proper perspective with respect to the prior art.
A primary object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily move a relatively long main landing gear into and out from a relatively short stowage space, with a minimum of complexity in the design of the landing gear assembly.